An investigation into one of the largest and most lucrative mineral mining companies in the world Rio Tinto Extraction Politics reveals how the company constructs a presence in the places it operates and shapes meanings and orientations toward the environment. ampampnbspTaking readers on a rhetorical pilgrimage across the American Southwest Nicholas Paliewicz shows how Rio Tinto creates adaptable corporate identities. From Ronald Reagans frontiersman advertisements for the Borax Mine in California to the pioneer Mormon persona at Bingham Canyon Mine in Salt Lake City and the folksy paternalistic perspective toward the San Carlos Apache at the proposed mine at Oak Flat Arizona the company appropriates local history to embed itself as a valued member of the publicwithout having to settle in those ecological communities and bear the costs of extraction.